Board game apparatus

ABSTRACT

A parlor game is disclosed which comprises a game board having thereon a plurality of markings representing individual museums. A series of cards are each marked with a pictorial representation of a famous painting as well as the particular artist, the painting&#39;&#39;s selling price, and the museum to which it belongs. Three tracks are provided on the game board and pawns are moved along the respective tracks in accordance with numbers appearing on rolled dice. The tracks are each divided into a series of sections which contain various operations which are to be performed by the different players in response to the rolling of the dice.

United States Patent [72] inventor [21] Appl. No

699,105 [22] Filed Jan. 19, 1968 [45] Patented Aug.31, 1971 [32] Priority Jan. 20, 1967 [33] France I l 1 91,974

[54] BOARD GAME APPARATUS 7 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

52 use! 273/135AA, 273/1340 51 lm.C| A63i3/00 so FieldofSearch 273/134, 135

[56} References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,148,885 9/1964 Varlese et al 1.

Primary Examiner-Delbert B. Lowe Attorneys-Robert E. Burns and Emmanuel J. Lobato ABSTRACT: A parlor game is disclosed which comprises a game board having thereon a plurality of markings representing individual museums. A series of cards are each marked with a pictorial representation of a famous painting as well as the particular artist, the painting's selling price, and the museum to which it belongs. Three tracksare provided on the game board and pawns are moved along the respective tracks in accordance with numbers appearing on rolled dice. The tracks are each divided into a series of sections which contain various operations which are to be performed by, the different players in response to the rolling of the dice.

is i: *2 3 PATENTEUAUB31 IBTI 3,602,512

SHEET 1 OF 3 a F (5.1 A l '1 1 91 M w u a b1 :1 a, '2 2 92 z BANK 2 c2 4 PATENTEUAUG31 l9?! 3502.512

SHEET 3 OF 3 F' I (5.2a Fl 62b Giorgio MORANDI (1890496 Claude NONE T 1e4o4e2en ART MUSEUM C -Series i ART MUSEUM A .Series b DeLaunay-Chirico- Carri: Manet- Degas -Sislay Inn;

"Composiion" 1919 "Le Pont d'ArgenteuiV187h Market Price 180.000 Market Price 450.000 Art Museum Price 250.000 Art Museum Price 500.000 Tofal Price(Series)l.000.000 TotaI Price(5eries)2.600.009

mvw u M VVMA W t HAM \xgw-n new q} 75v-hlx0 m 0mm .kxx wu BOARD GAME APPARATUS The invention is concerned with a parlor game.

There have already been proposed a particularly large number of parlor games comprising in general a game tray on which is traced a course which must be followed by pawns moved by the players in accordance with the results of throwing dice.

Other games have combined such courses with financial operations such as the purchase or sale of varied objects, payment of taxes or of fines, lottery gains, etc.

Few of these games, however, have succeeded in combining the factor of chance and the factor of monetary gain with noteworthy cultural benefit.

The purpose of the present invention is to create a parlor game which obviates this disadvantage.-

This parlor game is characterized by a combination of cards representing different series of pictorial works each of which carries mention of the selling price of the corresponding work, tokens of play money representing given monetary units, a game tray in which are traced compartments representing purchasing museums and which are divided into sections each corresponding to one card, zones corresponding to other potential buyers, three courses which must be followed by pawns moved by the players on the basis of the result of a throw of dice and one of which represents financial fluctuations the object of which can be pictorial works illustrated by the cards, the second of which indicates to the player to whom the card in his possession must be sold and the third being characteristic of the good or bad luck with which the player may sell.

The accompanying drawing shows by way of nonlimiting example certain elements of the parlor game of the present invention:

FIG. 1 is a view of the game tray on a reduced scale;

FlG. la shows parts of the three courses;

F [65. 2a and 2b show two of the playing cards;

F lG. 3 illustrates certain play bills used for the game.

The parlor game subject of the invention comprises 64 series cards of the type illustrated in FlGS. 2a and 2b each of which has in its central part a representation of a given painting accompanied by the name of its author (Morandi for that of FIG. 2a and Monet in the case of HG. 2b), the names of the three other painters of the same school (Delaunay, Chirico and Carra, respectively, Manet, Degas and Sisley) the name of the museum and of the series which has been ascribed to them, the indication of the dealer's price and the museum price attributed to each painting and an indication of the total price of the paintings of the same series. Under the representation of each painting, the card also mentions the title of the painting.

The game comprises additionally twelve collector cards relating to paintings reserved exclusively to private collectors and which carry only one price indication.

There exist also two other cards called mystery" cards whose purpose will be given later.

The game comprises thus a total of 78 cards but it is evident that in a modification it could have more or less.

with the game of the invention use is also madeof tokens, for example of the kind shown in FIG. 3, which represent given monetary units and which are used by the players to buy the canvasses shown on the cards previously described.

The game comprises also a game board or tray of the type shown in FIG. 1 which is constituted by a rectangular support the four corners of which have squares A, B. C and D representing museums likely to receive the paintings illustrated by the 64 series cards and each of which is divided into l6 units. The units of each museum are grouped in series of four as are the cards. each card having identifying indicia thereon referring to one of said series.

Thus museum A is intended to receive the 16 paintings of the series a to d," museum B the paintings of series e to h," museum C those of series "i to l" and museum D the paintings of series m to p." The possession of the paintings corresponding to their units is indicated in each museum A to D by the occupation of these units by tokens, chits, cardboard rectangles, etc.

The play bills of FIG. 3 show the legal-tender value at the disposition of the players and are placed in a Bank" zone of the tray indicated by rectangles u, v, w and x.

At the beginning of play, the series and collector cards are stacked upside down on the emplacement M0 and the two mystery" cards are placed at My.

Between museums B and C on the one hand, and museums A and D on the other hand, the game board or tray comprises compartments G and CP intended to receive the cards sold to the galleries and to the private collectors respectively.

On the central part of the game tray are traced three annular and concentric tracks each divided into eight radial sectors characterized in the following manner:

External track by references R1, R2. ..R7 and R8; Intermediate track by references S1, S2... ..S7 and S8; lnner track by references T1, T2 ..T7 and T8;

The sectors having the same indicia are contained within radial zones 1 to 8.

Although each track has only eight sectors in the example shown, it is evident that in modifications they could have more, for example 12 or 16.

The track of sectors R is intended to indicate to the player the good or bad luck he has had during play. For this purpose, each sector carries a corresponding inscription, examples of which are shown in FIG. la.

These inscriptions can for example be the following:

Accident during transport. Pay Fr. 2.000.000.

Additional sale to the museum, i.e., in addition to the sale dictated by sector S.

Special event: You may sell an additional painting of your choice to the gallery and sell another one of your choice to anyone you wish.

Painting to be restored, pay Fr. 100.000 to the bank.

Frame to be furnished, pay Fr. 50.000 to the bank.

Draw a gallery card and sell it to the highest bidder.

A painting that you have sold has proved to be a forgery. Pay Fr. 1,000.000 in damages to the bank.

The track of sectors S gives indications for the sales of the various cards (to museums, to a gallery, to private collectors). Each sector bears a description of the type below:

Sale to the gallery;

Sale to the collectors;

Sale to museums;

Sale to the gallery or to collectors;

Sale to collectors or to museums.

As for the track of sectors T, it is intended to indicate financial fluctuations to which the paintings may be subject or the interplay of the mystery" factors. The indications on these sectors are for example the following:

For the sectors Stock Exchange. As used throughout this specification, the term Stock Exchange" means the current market value of the painting, such as determined by a valuation or at an auction.

Double value;

Stock Exchange unchanged;

Fall of quotations, total loss of value, etc.

For the mystery" sectors.

Sell the painting for two million;

Give the painting free;

Take the painting free;

Buy the painting for Fr. 100.000 etc.

The game also includes three pawns P1, P2 and P3 ascribed each to one of the annular tracks R, S or T which the players cause to advance alternately on these tracks by a number of sectors corresponding to the result obtained by throwing three dice each of which belongs to a given track.

The three tracks are differently colored and the dice are colored the same color as the track to which they belong.

four. if he succeeds in uniting the four paintings, he has the right to sell them to the corresponding museum at double the price indicated on each card of the series. It is accordingly only possible to begin to complete the series of a museum with three paintings at a time but the fourth missing painting in a given series can be sold to the museum by any player who has ll.

At the beginning of play, the two mystery cards are placed on the tray in the zone or compartment My. The 76 cards representing the paintings are stacked on the compartment Mo with the marked face turned against the game tray. All the play bills illustrated in FIG. 3 are stacked on correspondingly valued compartments of the bank u, v, w and x. The compartments of the museums and those representing private collectors CP and gallery G are empty while the three pawns are lined on the starting line which is the line separating sectors 8 and 1.

After agreeing on the person who will deal the cards, on the person who will be the banker and on their respective positions around the tray, the players receive cards from the dealer who deals the cards in a clockwise manner.

The dealer will give, for example, seven cards per player if there are six or seven players, 10 cards for five or four players, 13 cards for three players or 15 cards for two players. He will then choose a card from the pack which will be placed in the gallery compartment, turned up, and will place the remainder of the pack on compartment M0, the face of each card being turned towards the tray.

The players begin playing without money and may borrow from the bank the amounts of money they need at the start of the game and during the entire game if this is necessary. Any player borrowing money must reimburse the bank either during the course of or at the end of the game.

At each turn, each player acquires a painting either by drawing the upper card of the stack resting on compartment M0 without paying for it" or by buying at the dealer price the painting visible on compartment G.

This player then throws the three dice of the game and moves the pawns on the three tracks corresponding to the dice, the following player starting with the pawns on the sectors on which they are located at the moment when he plays. Each player must follow the instructions given by the sectors of tracks R, S and T in the order:

instructions good or bad luck, instructions sale, instructions Exchange."

It is naturally the segments labeled Stock Exchange of track T which influence the entire game. lt is thus that if the pawn stops on a sector marked double valve," the values of the sales indicated by the sectors of track S are also doubled and the same is true for the pecuniary obligations resulting from the indications given by track R. good or bad luck.

lf the pawn of track T falls on a mystery" sector, the player can either draw a mystery card already located in compartment My ,or sell this card if he already has it. The mystery card can be obtained free or by paying the bank the amount indicated on the corresponding sector.

The same is true of the sales of the various paintings which can be carried out against payment of given sums or given free.

If the player lands on a mystery sector and must sell a mys tery card and does not have it at that moment, nothing happens. During each sale, the mystery card is again placed in compartment My.

If the pawn of track T, on the contrary, falls in a compartment marked Stock Exchange, the player only follows the instructions of this compartment which define the price of the various operations indicated by the track S.

The pawn moving on track S gives the players the indications concerning the nature of the organizations to which the paintings must be sold. It will be recalled that these paintings can only be sold to a museum when three paintings of the same series are in the hands of one of the players and if the latter has the entire series he can obtain for this series a price double that mentioned on each card.

It will be understood that the strategy of the game will consist for each player to form in his game the most series of three or four cards. Each player has the right to sell pictures of a series of three or four cards and the more sets of three or four cards that are sold, the larger the total amount of money will be for that player.

The cards of the paintings sold to the museum are out of the game and the corresponding compartments will be hidden by any suitable objects.

if the pawn of the track S falls on a compartment indicating a sale to the gallery, the player sells a painting of his choice that he has in his hand at the dealer price. Naturally he will avoid as much as possible to get rid of a painting which is part of a series that he may already have in his hand and will try to sell another, either because this painting will bring him more money or that he wishes to get rid of a less valuable painting in order to complete his series. The sale of such paintings is also dependent upon Stock Exchange instructions indicated by the sectors of track T.

If the pawn of track S falls on a compartment labeled sale to collectors, the player sells a collector card of his choice among those that he has and this at the single price marked on the card and naturally bearing in mind the evolution of the Stock Exchange" factor. The collector cards which are sold are deposited in compartment CP and are no longer in play. If a player does not possess a collector card he does not follow the instructions given to him by track S and passes automatically to those relating to track R.

As aforementioned, track R indicates to each player the good or bad luck factor governing him. The indications of the various sectors of track R are also naturally influenced by those of the Stock Exchange on track T. It is thus that if a player must pay Fr. 150.000 to the broker and the Stock Exchange tells him double value, the player must pay Fr. 300.000.

If the contrary the Stock Exchange reads drop in market rates, this player will still pay the sums that he owes (whether it be to the broker or for damages or for damages plus interest, etc.) regardless of the instruction contained on track R.

if a pawn falls in a compartment saying "you have been robbed, "the player passes and his neighbor draws a card: this card will not be influenced by the Stock Exchange decision.

When chance, on the contrary, tells the player to draw an additional card among those stacked on compartment M0 or those belonging to the gallery, he must take the card located above one or the other of these stacks. This is an additional card to that which he must normally take.

If the pawn falls in a sector where the player can effect an additional sale of a painting to the gallery or to a museum or to anyone, the player can double the dealer price when his pawn moving on track T falls in a sector labeled double value. Track T also contains other additional operations, such as in the case of a total collapse of quotations, the player takes an additional card and must give it free as instructed.

When the stack of cards resting on compartment M0 is spent, the players must buy from the gallery the cards that it possesses until these cards are exhausted.

it may be that at the end of the game, compartment G will be empty, but as long as the compartments museum" and the compartment "collector C?" are not completely full, some of the players still have cards in their hand. According to the instructions that these last players will receive from the game, the gallery compartment will be replenished with paintings but at a slower or more irregular rhythm since most of the cards are in the museums at this time. When one or several players are empty handed, they continue to throw dice in their normal turn since the indications appearing on the three tracks R, S and T can make them buy back paintings or make them effect new sales. Naturally a player momentarily not having cards in his hand will have to submit himself to all the other indications of the three tracks R, S and T, such as a fine, mystery card, etc.

The game is ended when no player has cards in his hand and the winner is the one who has made the most money, that is, the one who has the largest amount when the different monetary values of his play bills shown in F IG. 3 is the largest.

it is naturally possible to play as many games as desired with the described game by carrying over the winnings of one game for the next.

The described game not only has a recreational purpose as do already known games but additionally has an obvious educational merit since it makes it possible for the various players to learn of the works of the most famous painters, to learn their names, the span of their existence and the school to which they belong.

What is claimed is:

1. An educational parlor game apparatus comprising in combination: a group of cards each having a pictorial representation thereon of a different pictorial work and wherein each of said cards has means thereof identifying it with one of several predetermined series, each of said cards having thereon an indication of the price of the work appearing thereon, play money, a game board having a series of markings thereon each representing an individual museum, each said marking being further divided into a plurality of individual units each having indicia thereon corresponding to said pictorial representation on one of said cards, three tracks on said board, movable pawns associated with each of said tracks and movable along respective ones of said tracks according to the results obtained by throwing dice, one of said tracks having indicia thereon representing market price fluctuations to which may be subject said pictorial works illustrated on said cards, the second of said tracks having indicia thereon indicating the buyer to whom cards must be sold and the third of said tracks containing indicia thereon indicating the good or bad luck with which may be effected said sales.

2. Game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said units are grouped together and located on said game board in groups according to the identifying means on each said card.

3. Game apparatus according to claim 2, wherein each group contains four units.

4. Game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each card has two pn'ce indications, one indication for the selling price of the pictorial work represented on this card to a museum and the other the selling price to other buyers,

5. Game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each card indicates the selling price of the complete series to which said card belongs.

6. Game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each card also bears the names of the painters of the pictorial works represented by other cards in this series.

7. Game apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said tracks on said game board consist of concentric annular tracks each divided into individual sectors. 

1. An educational parlor game apparatus comprising in combination: a group of cards each having a pictorial representation thereon of a different pictorial work and wherein each of said cards has means thereof identifying it with one of several predetermined series, each of said cards having thereon an indication of the price of the work appearing thereon, play money, a game board having a series of markings thereon each representing an individual museum, each said marking being further divided into a plurality of individual units each having indicia thereon corresponding to said pictorial representation on one of said cards, three tracks on said board, movable pawns associated with each of said tracks and movable along respective ones of said tracks according to the results obtained by throwing dice, one of said tracks having indicia thereon representing market price fluctuations to which may be subject said pictorial works illustrated on said cards, the second of said tracks having indicia thereon indicating the buyer to whom cards must be sold and the third of said tracks containing indicia thereon indicating the good or bad luck with which may be effected said sales.
 2. Game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said units are grouped together and located on said game board in groups according to the identifying means on each said card.
 3. Game apparatus according to claim 2, wherein each group contains four units.
 4. Game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each card has two price indications, one indication for the sellIng price of the pictorial work represented on this card to a museum and the other the selling price to other buyers.
 5. Game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each card indicates the selling price of the complete series to which said card belongs.
 6. Game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each card also bears the names of the painters of the pictorial works represented by other cards in this series.
 7. Game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said tracks on said game board consist of concentric annular tracks each divided into individual sectors. 